


Black & White, Red & Blue

by SmallGiantsKing910



Category: Bleach
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Reread and edited 2019, Slight one-sided Hollow Ichigo/Kurosaki Ichigo, Spirit thread play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-12
Updated: 2006-12-12
Packaged: 2019-10-15 06:54:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17523971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmallGiantsKing910/pseuds/SmallGiantsKing910
Summary: Ichigo still has some problems with his inner Hollow even after all of the Vizards' training, but it seems like Ishida is willing to help him. Are they finally friends?





	Black & White, Red & Blue

Ichigo was lying on his bed, thinking about his school day. It had been a day like any other, with boring lessons, but at least he could be with his friends. When all the Shinigamis had been here, it had been even more fun, even if he would never admit this out loud. Now, they were back to normal, and only Keigo’s usual stupidity and Orihime’s typical loudness somewhat brightened up everyone’s mood. Ishida was back too, more Quincier than ever: back to full power, back to bicker with Ichigo as usual. Ichigo somehow thought that he had missed these moments in which they would yell at each other for nothing in particular. But that, again, he would never admit out loud. The Quincy had his pride, and so did Ichigo.

Something tugged at his stomach when he thought about the boy; Ishida seemed to be a bit more at peace now that he had regained his powers, but Ichigo still had some issues with his Hollow. He had fought him, and he had won, but he still couldn’t control him entirely… Five minutes… What are five minutes in a fight that can last hours? Sometimes, he could even hear his ‘other half’ laugh in his head, for nothing in particular. Ichigo had come to the conclusion that perhaps the Hollow had caught some of his thoughts and had found something funny, whatever it was.  
  
Today, for some reason, the Hollow had laughed while they were leaving school at the end of the day. It was getting really annoying, so much that it made the Shinigami forget about his surroundings and focus on making the damn thing shut up without ending up saying it out loud. But then, of course, that meant he wasn’t paying attention to were he was going, and so he hadn’t realised that someone had stopped in front of him, causing him to crash into the other student.  
The words that followed had made him come out of his trance.  
  
“Hey! Pay attention to where you’re going, Kurosaki!” he had heard someone say under him.  
  
He knew this voice. After a blank moment, he had finally realised that he was looking down at the dark-haired Quincy lying on the floor, adjusting his glasses threateningly, and Ichigo was on top of him, his hands on either side of Uryuu’s head. He was still annoyed at the Hollow, and was still in a daze, not realising a lot of other students had stopped to look at them. For a long moment, he had stayed there, looking absent-mindedly into Ishida’s blue eyes.  
  
“Are you going to get off me, or do I have to shoot an arrow through you to wake you up?” the other boy had finally threatened, seeing no movement from above.  
  
  
When remembering about all that, Ichigo sensed his cheeks warming slightly. He turned on his side, facing the wall, and tried to find some sleep.  
  
  
\--------------------------  
  
  
Uryuu was on his way home, returning from the convenience store. On the way, his mind drifted over what happened at school and he adjusted his glasses. Really, what was going on with Kurosaki? For some days now, he seemed rather annoyed, his scowl deeper than ever, and he was often seen in a daze. Not that Uryuu cared, though. It was not as if he was going to ask the Shinigami what was going on. He had his own problems to deal with, and that was far more than enough.  
  
He continued walking, trying not to think about the other boy until he heard someone laugh behind him. That in itself shouldn’t be surprising, especially at that time of the day when drunk people tried to find their own home, but the laugh didn’t seem… human. Uryuu stopped and turned around carefully, only to distinguish a very familiar silhouette in the dimly lit road he was walking on.  
  
“Kurosaki?” he tried, although he could sense in his reiatsu that it wasn’t really Kurosaki. Far too powerful, and dark.  
  
The only reply was that echoing hollow laugh again. “’Kurosaki’ is asleep at the moment!”  
  
Was this…?  
  
He conjured his bow, but conjured only a small bit of energy in order to make it smaller. He created an arrow and pointed it towards the figure standing a few feet from him.  
  
“Who… What are you?” he corrected, unsure how to address it.  
  
Again, he received only a laugh in answer, but as he was about to shoot an arrow, Uryuu was pinned against a near-by wall, a hand on his throat.  
  
This was definitely not Kurosaki. His eyes wide from the surprise, he looked at the other’s face and could see it was Kurosaki’s, but with an unusually wide grin, and black and orange eyes. His Hollow-side, he figured out.  
  
“I knew you were still weak…” the ‘thing’ said, his shrill but at the same time low voice echoing in his ears.  
  
The grip on his neck slowly loosened, and he felt fingers tracing his jaw line.  
  
“Heh! Not so bad…” it added.  
  
“Get off me,” Ishida whispered menacingly.  
  
The Hollow’s grin faded for a second, but it seemed to be bothered by something else than the Quincy’s threat. He was looking at him, but his gaze was unfocused, like Kurosaki’s had been some hours ago.  
  
“You know, I’m only doing that for your sake, _partner_ ,” he said, his grin back on his face. Ishida understood the words weren't directed at him. “Make up your damn mind! You wan-”  
  
Uryuu looked into the eyes of the Hollow and saw that it was internally struggling.  
  
“Shut up and go back to sleep!” he shouted, taking his head in his hands. After a moment of silence, he added with another grin, “Well then, stay where you are and enjoy the view! At least, you’ll be able to take a good examp-”  
  
His grin faded suddenly and his eyes slowly returned to their original orange. Ishida didn’t know what to do or say, so he waited to be sure Kurosaki was back.  
  
“Sorry, Ishida,” Uryuu heard Kurosaki say in his normal voice. However, he still had his head in his hands.  
  
“It’s okay,” Uryuu answered, frowning slightly. “But I thought you told us you had succeeded in controlling him?”  
  
The Shinigami slowly looked up at the Quincy with a frown. He then averted his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets.  
  
“I thought I had, too…” he finally admitted. “I fought him, you know, and I nearly lost.”  
  
Uryuu’s eyes widened slightly, and as Kurosaki started to walk slowly, he decided to follow him. It seemed like Kurosaki needed to talk to someone at the moment. He stayed silent for a bit, waiting for the other to talk about what was troubling him.  
  
“But I won… I won against this bastard, and yet, he’s still annoying me… Five minutes; I can fight with his power for only five minutes,” he growled. “Maybe it would have been better if I lost against him,” he added, lowering his head.  
  
Uryuu looked at him. It was so unlike Kurosaki to say these kinds of things, he who always acted like a hero. Well, even heroes have weaknesses, he thought.  
  
“I don’t think so,” Uryuu answered, causing the other teenager to look at him, his frown deepening. “There’s still Aizen to fight, and I don’t think the Shinigamis would have any chance if you turned against them,” he added, trying a small smile.  
  
Ichigo snorted in answer, looking back towards the horizon.  
  
“I don’t know if that would help you,” Ishida tried, “but I can propose a fight.”  
  
“A fight?”  
  
“Yes, a fight. I mean, I’m powerful enough now to be able to win against you, so you should be able to practise your Hollow thing.”  
  
“Heh! Powerful enough, huh?” Kurosaki replied with a smirk. “Okay, I accept.”  
  
Uryuu then thought he had succeeded. He had somewhat brightened up the other’s mood, and he would be to test his own new capacities against his Shinigami ‘friend’.  
  
“So, let’s say tomorrow after school, at Urahara’s basement?” he proposed.  
  
As the redhead agreed, Uryuu stopped in his tracks and smirked. This was going to be a really interesting battle. He might as well show what his new strength was right away.  
  
“See you tomorrow, then,” he said. And in the blink of an eye, he disappeared, leaving a dumbstruck Shinigami.  
  
Eventually, Kurosaki shrugged and turned to return to his house.  
  
  
\--------------------------  
  
  
“So, are you ready, Kurosaki? Don’t think I’ll go easy on you.”  
  
The school day was finally over, and they were in Urahara’s basement, facing each other in the rocky landscape. Ichigo had been looking forward to this moment all day lon, and he knew, from Ishida’s behaviour, that he too had been waiting for it, even though they didn’t share a single word on the way from school to the shop.  
  
Ichigo reached out to his back and took hold of Zangetsu. “Like hell I’ll let you win!”  
  
Uryuu watched as the thin white ribbon bounding the zanpakutou unfolded slowly. He kind of liked it when the Shinigami revealed his sword. There was something quite majestic about this unusual ‘unsheathing’, and it sort of accentuated the fact that Kurosaki wasn’t a Shinigami like any others. Completely different from the first appearance of the zanpakutou, which had only been ridiculously large.  
  
Ichigo finally stretched his arm up and laid it on his side, at some distance from his body so that the sword would not touch the ground. The ribbon was gracefully tracing in the air the path that his hand had traced. Once it touched the ground, Uryuu was pulled out of his reverie and he looked into Kurosaki’s eyes to see him smirking. He smirked back, thinking that it was now his turn to impress his now opponent.  
  
He extended his right arm towards the Shinigami, fingers outstretched, and Ichigo could see that the cross dangling from the boy’s skinny arm was a bit more complex than the previous one. It now looked more like a star with five branches, and the circle that he saw the other pull to create an arrow before was now encircling the centre of the symbol. The sleeve of Ishida’s shirt slid back enough to allow him to see that the bracelet had been wrapped at least three or four times around his wrist, and he vaguely wondered if it might have originally been a necklace.  
  
His friend had told him that it was the Last Quincy’s cross, which Uryuu had inherited from his father after finally surpassing him. Ichigo was eager to see what his bow would be like, and if Uryuu was as powerful as he pretended to be.  
He watched unblinkingly as a blue halo formed around the silver and blue star, growing rapidly and extending up and down. It finally condensed and Ichigo could make out its form.  
  
“What…the…” he began, his eyebrows raised and his mouth open.  
  
He was at first a bit impressed by this new ‘special’ form, and Ishida seemed to have realised that as his smirk widened, but then Ichigo burst out laughing. He was certain that it was going to annoy the Quincy, but he couldn’t stop laughing, and his eyes filled with tears. He supported his weight on his zanpakutou as he bent forward, putting his other arm around his abs.  
  
However, he was forced to stop as suddenly as he had begun as he sensed something rushing past his ears. His eyes widened as he heard a crash behind him and he straightened up, looking at Ishida to see that he was in his fighting stance. Realising it might have been arrows he had felt, he turned his head to look behind him and saw steam getting out of two holes on the rock behind him.  
  
‘Two arrows at once, eh?’ he thought.  
  
He looked back at the Quincy with a smile.  
  
“Not bad!” he exclaimed, nodding slightly in approval. He grabbed Zangetsu again, pulled it out of the ground and pointed it towards his opponent.  
  
“Come on, Kurosaki! Are you already afraid?” the other started mockingly.  
  
“You wish!” he roared, launching himself towards Ishida.  
  
Raising Zangetsu, he lowered it once he was close enough to his target. He then realised that he had sliced through air and he looked up just in time to see Ishida shooting an arrow from high above him. He held his zanpakutou over his head to deflect the arrow from its trajectory and saw the Quincy landing on a rock in the corner of his eye.  
  
He turned round and understood that it was useless to try close combat with the archer, so he might as well play Ishida’s game.  
  
“Getsuga…” he whispered as he started running towards the rock. “…TENSHOU!” he yelled as he sent the attack up to where the Quincy was waiting.  
  
Ishida saw the diagonal blue attack coming towards him and gracefully jumped off his rock. However, the ‘fang’ ended its path on the top of the stone, causing it to explode from the force.  
  
Ishida walked out of the haze created by fallen pieces, coughing a little. “Uncouth,” he complained, wiping dust from his clothes with his free hand. “You have no style, Kurosaki Ichigo.”  
  
The other teen snorted and retorted, “And you have _too much_ style!”  
  
This caused Ishida to glare threateningly at the redhead. After a moment, he adjusted his glasses and said in a matter-of-fact tone, “This is already boring. Fight seriously, Kurosaki, I don’t like winning easily.”  
  
The fight was actually getting really interesting, as he thought it would be, but he knew the Shinigami was still restraining himself. He was sure this was going to motivate him.  
  
“Tch… Fine!” Ichigo answered, his grip on his zanpakutou tightening. If the Quincy wanted a real fight, then he’d have one. Now he could finally raise his speed.  
  
He glared back and started running. But as he saw Ishida preparing to dodge the attack once again, he concentrated and willed his power to merge with the air.  
  
Uryuu’s eyes widened. He was preparing to attack just after the boy would try to slice him, but in the blink of an eye, he had disappeared.  
  
“Got ya, Mr Handicrafts!” he suddenly heard from behind.  
  
As Uryuu had predicted, the Shinigami was now taking this fight quite seriously. He took him by surprise, but Ishida Uryuu was not one to be caught only by speed. He concentrated some energy under his feet and disappeared for an instant from Kurosaki’s sight. He reappeared some feet away and released three arrows towards his opponent. Kurosaki managed to divert two of them, but the third one brushed his left thigh.  
  
“Come on, Kurosaki, you’re still playing. Fight! Aren’t you here to control your Hollow side?”  
  
“But… It’s dang-”  
  
“Do it, Kurosaki! I want to see what you’re capable of,” Uryuu cut in, more than serious.  
  
He could see that the Shinigami was still hesitant, but he was confident, he knew what his new powers were able to, if not win, at least fight on equal level as his friend.  
  
“Tch… Okay…” Kurosaki finally replied, bringing his hand to his face.  
  
Ishida wanted him to release his full power, but he decided to ask for the Hollow’s help only in his Shikai’s form. Not that he was sure about his strength compared to the archer’s, but he knew that his Bankai was not be used in a spar against friends, even powerful ones.  
  
So he reached out at the back of his mind and called for the Hollow.  
  
‘I need you now, please give me some of your strength,’ he thought, receiving the usual laugh as a reply.  
  
Uryuu’s eyes suddenly widened again as he sensed Kurosaki’s reiatsu flaring up to a level he never imagined possible. As he released all his own reiatsu in response so as to not be crushed under the pressure, he realised that Kurosaki was now wearing a full Hollow mask.  
  
“Getsuga…”

Uryuu launched himself in the air as the other raised his sword.

“Tenshou”.  
  
There was no hesitation this time in the invocation, and Uryuu was once again surprised at what he saw. Instead of the usual ocean-blue fang, what was coming rapidly towards him was a black whirl. He prepared mentally as much arrows as he could and sent them all in order to annihilate the attack. Most of it was destroyed, but some arrows had passed through it and Uryuu was hit by some small remainings, causing him to lose his concentration and fall to the ground with a loud crash.  
  
When he came back to his senses a second later, he slowly got up to his feet and waited for the cloud of dust to dissipate. His vision was a bit blurred because of the state his glasses were in, so he took them off and started searching for a black figure. After a moment, he finally saw something moving on his right and walked towards it. Once close enough, he realised it was Kurosaki, sitting cross-legged on the floor. His mask had vanished, and it looked like he had been badly injured.  
  
“Kurosaki, are you all right?” he tried, kneeling beside him.  
  
“What was all that?” Kurosaki asked, and Uryuu couldn’t help but notice how his voice sounded weak.  
  
“It seems like you got hit by spare arrows.”  
  
The Shinigami looked at him with raised eyebrows, then nodded slightly and looked back at the floor. After a moment of awkward silence, he glanced back up at Uryuu. “Can you… help me… stand up?” he slowly asked.  
  
“Oh. Sure.” Uryuu stood up and put Kurosaki’s arm around his shoulder to pull him up. From the way he leant against him, Uryuu understood that he would have to help him walk as well. He conjured up all the energy he had left and concentrated air under them to take them up to the exit trap.  
  
Once outside, they started walking slowly. Uryuu could hear Kurosaki mumble incomprehensible things. He asked him where his house was, but it seemed like the Shinigami was off again, probably struggling in his inner-world, but still half-conscious, for he was walking. Ishida decided to take him to his flat, which was now not so far away.  
  
  
\--------------------------  
  
  
One rainy night. Ichigo was walking back home with his mother. One minute later and he was lying under her, her body covered in blood.  
  
“Mom?” he whispered. “Mom!”  
  
He half-woke up with a start, but his grief was soon eased out by the gesture he felt in his hair. He was curled up on the floor and his head was resting on something soft. Somebody’s knees, he surmised. He tried to remember what had happened to him. The last thing he could think of was his fight with Ishida… Could it be…?  
  
This realisation woke him up entirely and he straightened up suddenly, looking at the person he had been asleep on.  
  
“You? What are you doing here?”  
  
The one he was facing was not exactly the person he had imagined. In front of him was sitting what he had tried to control for months now. What was he doing in his inner-world? And above all, had the Hollow really been the one running his hand in his hair?  
  
Upon seeing Ichigo’s surprised face, the Hollow snorted.  
  
“Seems like you expected to see someone else, didn’t you?”  
  
Ichigo frowned at this comment. He had assumed it was Ishida, but only because he had been the last person he remembered seeing. But obviously, it had been really stupid to think something like that, as if Ishida would ever let him sleep with his head on his lap. Not that Ichigo wanted to, either.

The Hollow laughed, and Ichigo tried to stand up, annoyed. Immediately, he stumbled back next to his other half.  
  
“You’re still weak, partner. Sleep.”  
  
  
\--------------------------  
  
  
“Mom…”  
  
Ishida, who was sitting against a wall, sewing, looked up as the boy curled up on his sofa whispered in his sleep. His face had been quite peaceful just a moment before, but now he looked like he was going to howl in sorrow.

He remembered Kurosaki telling him about how his mother had died when he was a child. He could perfectly understand how that must have felt. After all, he too often relived his grandfather’s death in dreams.  
  
He was sure what he could do for the other boy, so he slowly got up and put the covers the Shinigami had kicked off back on him. Apparently, its warmth caused him to wake up.  
  
“Ishida?” he mumbled, sitting up. He looked carefully around him and added, “Where are we?”  
  
“In my apartment,” Uryuu replied. “Are you okay?”  
  
“Yeah, I guess…” Ichigo answered after a small pause. He pushed the blanket aside, and saw it was stained with blood. “Hell! I’m sorry, Ishida!”  
  
“It’s nothing…” the Quincy said, sitting back against the wall facing the sofa. “You can take a shower if you wish,” he added.  
  
“Thanks.” Kurosaki shifted to get up, but stopped again once his feet touched the ground. “So, erm… who won?”  
  
“I have no idea. You’re getting quite powerful, though.”  
  
Ichigo’s eyes widened a little at that. It was most unusual, coming from the archer, but he decided not to dwell too much on it and take it as it was.  
  
“Thanks,” he said, getting up and rubbing his neck in an embarrassed manner. “You’re not bad either,” he added, smiling.  
  
“The door on the right,” Uryuu said a moment after as Kurosaki walked round the sofa and headed for the bathroom.  
  
“What? Oh! Thanks.”  
  
  
\--------------------------  
  
  
When Ichigo came back out, he found Ishida in the kitchen.  
  
“Mm, smells good in here,” he stated as he entered the confined space.  
  
Ishida suddenly glanced up, eyebrow raised and eyes slightly widened, but then looked back down to what he was stirring, trying to hide his small blush.  
  
“It’s not that good…” he mumbled. “I’m sure you’ve had much better.”  
  
“Mackerel miso?” Ichigo said as he bent to smell better over the archer’s arm. “Yuzu doesn’t cook mackerel often.”  
  
Uryuu stiffened a little from the closeness. After a moment of silence, Kurosaki finally straightened, and Uryuu looked behind him towards the window in the sitting room to see that the night had fallen not to0o long ago. “You can stay and eat here, if you want,” he proposed in a low voice. He had never had anyone in his apartment, much less anyone to eat with, and he was quite sure the Shinigami was going to decline.  
  
Ichigo looked at his watch. It was already past the time they usually ate at home, and even though he was sure Yuzu had put his share of the dinner aside, he really wanted to see if Ishida’s meal was as good as it smelt. “Okay! Thanks,” he answered.  
  
The Quincy turned his head towards the other boy, blue eyes wide behind his glasses. He pushed them up his nose and looked away again. “Isn’t your family waiting for you?” he asked, unable to keep a touch melancholy out of his voice.  
  
“Not really. They eat at seven, and if you dare arrive late, you eat alone;” he explained, shrugging. “So, erm… Can I help with anything?” he added, feeling suddenly uncomfortable and looking around to find something to do.  
  
“Can you set the table?”  
  
“Yeah, sure!”  
  
He was glad he was given a task. Taking all they needed from the cupboard he was shown, he went out of the room to set everything on the table. As the plates and glasses clinked when he set them on the wood, he heard a distraught shout from the kitchen.  
  
“Kurosaki! Take a tablecloth in the cupboard in front of the sofa!”  
  
He smiled at that, but did as he was told. There were at least five tablecloths in the piece of furniture, all handmade of course. He looked through them and took out a blue one with red-orange motives on it. As he laid it on the table, he found that orange and blue was a quite nice combination. He had always liked these colours. And now that he thought about it, they kind of summed up pretty well his and Ishida's collaboration.  
  
As this struck him, he did his best to ignore the one laughing again in his head. It had been a while. His scowl deepened, but the cackle intensified.  
  
“SHUT UP!” he yelled.  
  
“What?” he heard from the kitchen.  
  
“Oh, shit, no! Sorry, Ishida. It wasn’t aimed at you,” he hastily answered as he realised he had said it out loud.  
  
A Quincy and a Shinigami, he thought again as he returned to his previous musings after finishing setting up the table. He sat down. A partnership everyone thought impossible. Still, they were doing fairly well. Like the colours on the tablecloth; one could think they were clashing because they were completely opposed. Red and blue. The blue of Ishidas’s bow, the red of his own reiraku.  
  
Suddenly, he wondered if Ishida’s reiraku could be blue as well. He concentrated on sensing the other boy and finally managed to conjure his spirit thread. He opened his eyes and grinned. The same perfect blue as the tablecloth. He reached out and carefully caught the thread between his fingers. He realised it was coming out from the kitchen’s wall and playfully tugged on it.  
  
At that exact moment, he heard a loud gasp mixed with a cry coming from the kitchen, quickly followed by something dropping to the floor.  
  
Ichigo quickly got up and rushed there. Ishida was wide-eyed, panting softly, clutching tightly at the worktop he was leaning on.  
  
“Ishida! What happened?” he asked hurriedly.  
  
Uryuu turned his head to look at the Shinigami. “I don’t kn–” he was about to answer when his eyes wandered down to Ichigo’s hand. He was holding… his reiraku?  
  
Again, Ichigo tried to ignore the roaring laughter in his head. He brought his eyes to where the Quincy was looking and saw he was still holding the blue thread. Slowly putting two and two together, he looked up again at the flushed boy.  
  
Ishida, however, seemed to have understood before him and warned him. “NO! Kurosaki, don’t!”  
  
But it was too late; Kurosaki was already pulling his reiraku. Uryuu sensed something tugging at his stomach once, and was being pulled forward by an invisible force. It felt like the fingers holding his spirit thread were directly touching his heart and lungs. It felt extremely weird, but it somehow also felt good.  
  
When he came back to himself, he realised he was in Kurosaki’s arms. He quickly freed himself as he heard the boy chuckle.  
  
“This is not funny, Kurosaki! What do you think you're doing?” he exclaimed, trying to push his glasses up his nose threateningly.  
  
“I’m sorry! I swear I didn’t know you could sense it when someone tugged at your reiraku,” Kurosaki tried in his own defence once he had regained his seriousness.  
  
“Hell…” Uryuu whispered as he bent down to pick up the chopsticks he had dropped in his surprise. He took the bowls filled with rice and forced them into Kurosaki’s hands. “Take this, sit down, and don’t do anything stupid again. I’m almost done,” he scowled.  
  
As Kurosaki complied, Uryuu turned and lay against the worktop, sighing. His life had been quite eventful since he first met Kurosaki at school, and everyday he saw something he never thought possible before. Today was no exception. His grandfather used to take Uryuu’s reiraku in his hands to show him how to conjure them, but never had Uryuu felt like that when Souken had the thread in his hand. He had only felt something tugging slightly at his stomach back then.  
He frowned and turned the gas off, bringing the soup bowls to the dining room.  
  
Kurosaki was looking absent-mindedly outside the window, and when Uryuu deposited the last bowls, he turned towards him with a small smile. Uryuu, noticing from the corner of his eyes, felt quite uncomfortable at the sudden change in his friend's demeanor. He could feel Kurosaki's’s intense gaze, but refused to look at him. As he finally sat down, he realised which tablecloth the boy had chosen and cursed inwardly. Of all those that he had, Kurosaki had to pick this particular one he had done one day when he had been in a really bad mood and needed a laugh. But Kurosaki hadn’t commented on it, so he decided to let it slide for the time being.  
  
“Oh god, Ishida, this is delicious!” Kurosaki exclaimed as he started eating. “I’m sure even Yuzu can’t do better!”  
  
Uryuu tried to hide his blush by adjusting his glasses. “Thanks… But it’s not that great, you know… My grandfather’s cooking was a hundred times better. He’s the one who taught me.”  
  
“Oh, I see.”

Ichigo wasn't sure what to say, aware of what the old man had meant for the boy sitting in front of him. So, after a moment of silence, he decided to try talking about their training battle.  
  
And they ended up talking a lot more than he thought, bickering as usual and even laughing at times. Finally, Ishida brought the subject of Ichigo’s Hollow side. On and on they talked again, about how Ichigo managed to control it, about Ishida finally admitting he didn’t think he would be able to win against it without killing Ichigo; and the likes.  
  
“You know,” Ichigo continued after he had answered his friend’s question, “before I woke up, I was in my inner-world, and… he was acting so weird… He was…” He ran his hand through his hair. “Hell… I woke up with my head on his lap, and he was running his fingers through my hair! He was acting all weird…”  
  
“Did he… say anything?” Ishida asked, bewildered.  
  
“Yeah…” Ichigo answered, frowning in thought. “He said…”  
  
_“Seems like you expected to see someone else, didn’t you?”_  
  
Ichigo fell silent as he remembered these words. He sure had been surprised when he had seen the Hollow, but if had thought about Ishida at first, it was only because he was the last person he remember, he had already made that clear.  
  
_‘Oh, you think so? What I felt was that you were disappointed!”,_ he heard echoing in his mind.  
  
‘Shut up, I was not!’ he thought angrily.  
  
Ichigo then looked away after realising he had been staring at Ishida the whole time, who was looking back at him with a puzzled look. “Never mind,” he added hastily, leaning back in his chair. “Anyway, thank you for the meal, really, it was perfect,” he added to change the subject.  
  
“Oh, you’re welcome… It was nothing.”  
  
As Ichigo put his chopsticks back on the table, something caught his eye, and he finally realised what the small red things on the tablecloth were.  
  
“Ishida!” He exclaimed, pointing at one of those. “Don’t tell me these are… _strawberries_?” he asked unbelievingly.  
  
Uryuu, however, was tempted to laugh, understanding that the other boy hadn’t actually realised that earlier. Instead, he pushed his glasses up and shrugged. “So what? Do you have something against strawberries?” he said, trying to sound casual.  
  
“No, it’s not that, it’s just… well… why do they have some orange on top?” Ichigo wondered out loud.  
  
“I… I was lacking red thread.”  
  
“Yeah… right…” he smirked. “Oh, shit, look at the time!” Ichigo exclaimed as he looked at his watch. “I’d better get going; my sisters should already be sleeping, and I don’t think they’ll get any sleep if I’m not there to stop the old man from trying to sleep with one of them. He’s so annoying _…_ ”  
  
Uryuu looked at him without knowing what to say… The Kurosaki family seemed quite…cheerful… but maybe too much, if he were to believe the eldest son.  
  
They both got up and Ishida started clearing the table. Ichigo followed him in the kitchen to bring him the last things, but was thrown out as he tried to do the dishes.  
  
“It was nice. Thanks again, Ishida,” he said as he followed the boy to the door. “We should do that more often, you know,” he added, more seriously. He really had a good time with the Quincy, and wasn’t really looking forward for tomorrow, when he was sure Ishida would return to his cold self.  
  
“Sure, why not,” Uryuu answered after a moment, opening the door. He couldn’t deny that he too had quite a good time. “You can come by tomorrow, if you wish.” Kurosaki stopped in front of him and looked at him in disbelief. “Not for sparring, though!” he added hastily. “But you can come for dinner.”  
  
“Okay, then! I’ll bring the meal,” Kurosaki said, grinning and stepping out of the flat. “See you tomorrow!”  
  
Uryuu closed the door, and lay against it for a moment with a small smile. However, when he returned in the kitchen to do the washing-up, he hoped the Shinigami wasn’t planning on coming by everyday, or else Ishida would end up really exhausted from his too bright presence.  
  
  
\--------------------------  
  
  
In the end, Ichigo had been going to Ishida’s for a week, except the weekend, and he had always brought the meal. Today, the excuse he had found was that he wanted some help for homework and would be ‘honoured to be helped by the top student’. He had been certain Ishida would never refuse something like that.  
  
That was why he ended up once again in front of the other’s apartment, his bag over his shoulders and the meal in his hands, as usual.  
  
He knocked softly and waited for an answer, but as none came, he tried the handle and found the door was open. He entered and noticed the top of a dark-haired head on the arm of the sofa. He imagined Ishida might be absorbed in sewing or reading, as he always did when he had some free time. But as he looked over the back of the sofa, he realised his friend had fallen asleep while reading a book.  
  
He went to the kitchen to put the dinner in the fridge, and after dropping his bag on a chair, he returned behind the sofa and looked down at his sleeping companion in arms.  
  
_The Wounded Sword and the Ice Arrow_ , he read in large letters on the cover of the book that had caused Ishida to fall asleep. ‘What the hell is that?’ he thought. Probably one of those mushy novels, he scowled.  
  
Still, he felt a smile tug at his lips as he looked at Ishida's peaceful face. He seemed really different, no haughty frown, no smirk.  
  
He heard the Hollow inside him laugh. Ichigo asked him to shut up, as he was getting used to. He had realised that the Hollow was laughing a lot when he was at Ishida’s flat, and that was really bothering him.  
  
Ishida squirmed a little and Ichigo quickly caught the book before it fell to ground and woke him up. Walking in front of the sofa, he thought wise to take the boy’s glasses off as well, eliciting a small moan from the Quincy. Ichigo carefully set them on the table and chuckled silently as he caught sight of the bookmark on the small table; what else could it be, if not white with an ocean-blue cross?  
  
Sitting down against the chest of drawers in front of the sofa, he decided to see what this book was about. As he marked the page where Ishida had fallen asleep, a sentence caught his eyes.  
  
_'Sen knew the swordsman was already there, so he observed him from the top of the hill. He secretly enjoyed watching the man training with his father, seeing how his body gracefully followed the movement of his sword.'_  
  
He snatched the book close. What the hell was that? Was that… a gay romance? He slowly opened the book to the first page.  
  
_'Sen was an archer.'_  
  
Okay… Of course… What else would the Quincy read about? Ichigo couldn’t help but start reading it, only to ‘see what could be interesting in these kind of stories’, he told himself. However, he soon found it really captivating and had nearly read half of it when he heard someone call his name.  
  
He looked up to see that Ishida was awake and was holding himself up with an elbow. Gone to _'Kure City'_ , absorbed by the Romeo-and-Juliet-like impossible romance between Sen, from a family of archers, and Kazuki, from a family of swordsmen, he had completely forgotten about the other boy’s presence and why he was here.  
  
“Kurosaki? Why didn’t you wake me up?” he asked.  
  
“You were too cute when you were silent,” Ichigo joked, getting up with a wide smirk and putting the book back on the table.  
  
“Shut up!” Uryuu answered. He wanted to push his glasses up, but realised that they were on the table. He didn’t remember taking them off, so he concluded that might have been Kurosaki's doing, which made him blush a little. As the Shinigami walked past him to go search for something in his bag, he caught sight of the book he had been reading before dozing off. And it was… the book Kurosaki had been reading just now…  
  
Ichigo came back near thesofa with textbooks for studying and sat back where he had previously been. He noticed that Ishida hadn’t moved, and was fixing the novel with his mouth slightly open. He decided to reassure him. “I’m okay with it, you know.” As Ishida finally looked at him with a raised eyebrow, he added, lowering his gaze and shrugging, “I mean, the story really is interesting.”  
  
At this, Uryuu snapped back to reality and suddenly got up to snatch the book.  
  
“Hey! Don’t take it, I haven’t finished it yet!” Ichigo exclaimed and caught him by his wrist to stop him.  
  
Uryuu glared at him as best as he could, trying not to pay attention to the closeness between their faces. “Let me go, Kurosaki,” he whispered, narrowing his eyes threateningly. When the grip on his wrist finally loosened, he got up and went into his bedroom to put the novel safely back into his bedside table. With that, he went to bathroom to splash his face with water. He had been caught reading a gay romance, and above all by the last person he had wanted to see that. And Kurosaki said he was okay with it. 'But okay with what?', he thought as water was dripping down his face. And why, damnit, why did he have to be attracted to this Shinigami since the first time he saw him?  
  
  
\--------------------------  
  
  
Ichigo stared blankly – his Hollow still laughing madly inside him – as Ishida stormed into the bathroom after hiding the book in his bedroom. At first, he had considered going to take it back, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to face a Quincy in a really bad mood, now that everything was going quite well between them. Things were even taking a strange turn. He hadn’t really thought about it before, but it seemed like the book had opened his eyes.  
  
As he read it, he couldn’t help but think about Ishida every time the character Sen was mentionned, and couldn’t help identifying himself as Kazuki. That sure may have been related to the fact that they were an archer and a swordsman, but when things were getting quite intimate behind these two characters, he hadn’t minded, he wasn’t disgusted or anything. Well, he never had anything against gay relationships, but the thing was that even if he thought about them as Ishida and himself, it still wasn’t so bad an image.  
  
He looked back down at his homeworks, but he realised he couldn’t concentrate enough. So he decided to start preparing dinner.  
  
  
“What are you doing, Kurosaki?” Ishida asked when he finally came back quite a few minutes later.  
  
From his tone, Ichigo realised that he was still a bit angry, but there was no way in hell he was going to get thrown out just because he read a book he had found interesting. So he looked at the Quincy standing in the kitchen doorway.  
  
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m preparing dinner…” he answered in a matter-of fact tone, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Ishida grunted but went to set the table.  
  
  
\--------------------------  
  
  
After eating, they finally got to do their homework. They hadn’t talked much while eating, and it was still the case while working, apart from Ichigo sometimes asking a couple questions to Ishida. But most of the time was spent in an awkward silence, punctuated by the scratching of pens on paper.  
  
After an hour, Ichigo couldn’t bear it anymore and, tapping his pen a bit nervously on his textbook, he decided to bring the subject up.  
  
“Ishida?”  
  
The other boy raised his head, knowing that the question he had been dreading all evening was finally going to be asked.  
  
“Erm… You know… That book…” Ichigo began, searching for the right words. “Could you… lend it to me… later… once you finish it?”  
  
Ishida stared at him in disbelief. It seemed like he wasn’t really expecting this kind of question.  
  
“What?”  
  
Ichigo still couldn't look at him in the eye, but continued. “I told you I found the story interesting, so I'd like to see how it’s going to end.” As no answer came, he finally looked up and added in a defensive tone, “What’s wrong with this? I don’t have the right to be curious?”  
  
“I didn't say that!” Ishida jumped in, now finding the conversation easier if it was to start bickering. “I just assumed that it wasn’t the kind of books you would read, Kurosaki.”  
  
“And why not, smarty-pants?”  
  
“Because you’re not really the gay type, Kurosaki,” he answered casually, leaning back in the sofa, bringing his legs closer to him to have a closer view of his homework on his knees.  
  
“Oh, right, that’s true! You’re the gayest here,” Ichigo replied in the same tone, leaning back as well.  
  
This caused the Quincy to suddenly get up, adjusting his glasses threateningly. “What are you trying to say, exactly?”  
  
Ichigo got up as well and crossed his arms. “Yeah, it’s true that sewing is a very manly hobby, isn’t it?” he said, smirking and looking down on the other.  
  
“What’s wrong with sewing, stupid Shinigami?” he shouted, throwing his books and papers angrily behind him on the couch.  
  
“Nothing, nothing…” He waited a moment and then added, “And anyway, what if I was?”  
  
Ishida raised an eyebrow. “Was what?”  
  
“Gay.”  
  
“Like hell you’d be,” he retorted sardonically.  
  
Ichigo walked the two feet round the small table between them to get in front of the Quincy and grabbed him by the collar, glaring down at him. “Oh? Is that what you think? And what if I do that, then?”  
  
Ichigo leant down and captured the slightly smaller boy’s lips in a quick but fierce kiss.  
  
He pulled back and looked right into wide blue orbs. At this moment, a lot of thoughts were pushing their ways into his mind, all at the same time, leaving him utterly confused.  
  
Damn, that felt so good… How the hell did the conversation turn out this way? I was just asking for the book, and then I was trying to make him realise that I could be gay? What was I thinking? Oh. His eyes are beautiful. Why did that Hollow bastard suddenly stop laughing? Ishida’s not punching me. I knew he was gay. Oh, this is exactly like the scene in which Sen tries to push Kazuki away because it’s too dangerous for them, but Kazuki grabs him and kisses him passionately to make him forget about these trivial details. Hey, this was my first kiss… And with a guy… And with… Ishida… – _HAH! About time, partner…_  
  
“What do you think you’re doing, Kurosaki?” Ishida snapped, trying to push him away as he was still holding his shirt.  
  
“Huh? Oh, yeah… Sorry…” Ichigo let go of him and frowned. “Er… Maybe I should go, it’s getting late.”  
  
He quickly shoved his textbooks and things in his bag, followed Ishida leading him to the door as usual and stopped as he was about to step out.  
  
“Ishida, I…” he began as he turned to the Quincy.  
  
“Out, Kurosaki,” Ishida said, not looking at him.  
  
“Right… Sorry.”  
  
'Go out before you do something else you’ll regret', Uryuu added in his mind as he shut the door close, resting weakly against it.  
  
  
\--------------------------  
  
  
Ichigo was once again lying on his bed, desperately trying to find some sleep. Images of Ishida kept flashing in his mind, along with what he had done.  
  
“It’s hard, isn't it, partner?”  
  
He jumped and looked beside him to see who had talked and realised that his Hollow was kneeling beside the bed, his head resting on it.  
  
“Fuck! What are you doing here?” he whispered angrily, aware that everyone else in the house was probably asleep by now.  
  
“Well, it was a bit stormy down there,” he said, pointing at Ichigo’s heart, “so we decided that I could come help you.”  
  
“We? Oh… The old man…”  
  
The Hollow grinned even more. “You know, partner, it was finally getting interesting, and you had to run away! Are you afraid? But if you don’t do anything soon, I’ll have to do it for you.”  
  
“What? Leave him outside of your stupid games!”  
  
“Fine, fine,” he answered, raising his hands over his head defensively. He got up and added as Ichigo sat up. “But I don’t think he really wants to stay away from _your_ games.”  
  
“What the hell are you talking about?”  
  
“Do you want to understand what he felt?”  
  
Without waiting for an answer, the Hollow grabbed Ichigo by the collar and gave him the same kiss Ichigo gave to Ishida earlier. When he pulled away, Ichigo was stunned from the surprise.  
  
“Do you think that Quincy Boy would stay insensitive after that?” he said, laughing. “As far as I remember, he wasn’t the one who pushed you out of his flat.”  
  
“Fuck…” Ichigo whispered. That had been stupid and he knew it, but Ishida hadn’t done anything to keep him from going either. Still, it was Ishida he was talking about, Mr me-and-my-pride.  
  
Ichigo tried to get up, but two strong arms encircled him firmly. “No, partner, you’ll go there tomorrow. For the moment, you need to rest,” the Hollow whispered in his ear.  
  
Ichigo complied and lied back on his bed, drifting off to sleep as soon as he closed his eyes.  
  
The Hollow lowered over him and stroke the orange hair until the frown under them disappeared. He kissed the boy again and smiled when Ichigo moaned the archer’s name. He slowly disappeared, returning into his world filled with dark clouds, but where it wasn’t raining anymore.

\--------------------------  
  
  
Both boys had dreams about _The Wounded Sword and the Ice Arrow_ ; for Ishida, always the same ones since he began reading it, with him as Sen and Ichigo as Kazuki. And every time he woke up, he wondered why he had bought that book.  
In fact, he hadn’t thought it would be that kind of novel. At first, he had simply found it funny when he saw the cover with an archer and a swordsman, so he had bought it. But when he had started reading, he had been a bit afraid by the fact that the two main characters were actually very similar Kurosaki and himself.  
  
Today was no exception for Ishida, with the added question of why the hell had he been reading that damn book when he knew the Shinigami was about to come.  
  
He stood up and went to the bathroom to take a cold shower, trying to rid his mind of thoughts of the previous evening. Today was Saturday, so he would be able to rest a bit. He was sure that Kurosaki wouldn’t come see him before Monday at school, which was going to be really awkward.  
  
But as he prepared his breakfast, he heard someone knock at the door and frowned. He wasn’t waiting for anyone.  
  
As he opened the door, he came face to face with the orange-haired boy, flushed from the cool morning air.  
  
“Oh, great, I was wondering if you were still sleeping or something,” Ichigo said, smiling.  
  
“What are you doing here, Kurosaki?” Ishida asked as a greeting, his frown deepening.  
  
“Can I come in?”  
  
Ishida shrugged and opened to door a bit more without a word, letting the Shinigami in.  
  
“Oh, sorry, you were eating?” Ichigo apologized as he saw everything ready on the table.  
  
“It’s okay,” he shrugged again, filling his mug with tea. “Do you want some?” he added after a moment, becoming uncomfortable as he sensed Kurosaki was watching each of his movements.  
  
“Uh… Yeah, why not, thanks.”  
  
  
Once they finished, not a word had been spoken and they headed for the kitchen. As Ishida started cleaning the mugs, Ichigo cleared his throat, causing the Quincy to momentarily halt his task, but he resumed his cleaning some seconds after, when Ichigo started speaking.  
  
“Uh, Ishida… I wanted to say… about yesterday… erm… you know… I don’t know why I left so suddenly, in fact, because I thought about it, and… I don’t regret it all, you know…”  
  
The mug Ishida was rinsing slipped between his fingers and fell with a loud ‘clang’ in the sink. He turned to look at his friend when he heard him chuckle slightly and raised an eyebrow, adjusting his glasses.  
  
“So,” Ichigo continued, walking closer to the Quincy, “well, I just came to tell you that… and… also…”  
  
Not knowing how to put everything he had on his mind into words, he leant down and placed a chaste kiss on Ishida’s lips.  
  
When he pulled away, Ishida’s gaze was so intense that he had to struggle not to look away and tried not to acknowledge the tickling in his cheeks.  
  
“So, erm… If you don’t… you know…” Ichigo mumbled incoherently.  
  
Uryuu seemed to understand him, for he looked away and shrugged, resisting the smile that threatened to push its way through his lips.  
  
Relieved, Ichigo smiled and slowly took Ishida's head in his hand. He leant down again and captured the boy’s soft lips. This time, Ishida kissed him back and Ichigo tentatively snaked his other arm around the thin waist, gently pulling him closer. He deepened the kiss as Ishida put his arms around his neck, fisting one hand in his messy orange hair. They both opened their mouths slightly, tongues meeting half-way. Their hold tightened, and Ichigo slowly pushed the other boy against the worktop, causing Ishida to moan into his mouth.  
  
After what seemed like forever, they pulled away to breathe, Kurosaki still smiling. This time, Uryuu was so amazed to see the Shinigami without his usual frown that he couldn’t help smiling back. Kurosaki’s grin widened and he brought his hands to the Quincy’s glasses.  
  
“Can I?” he asked, tilting his head.  
  
Ishida frowned a little. “I won’t see very well… It’ll be quite annoying…” he said, but didn’t resist as Ichigo carefully took them off.  
  
“I just want to see your eyes,” Ichigo whispered, setting them on the counter behind the boy.  
  
“Happy now?” Uryuu snapped embarrassingly.  
  
“Yes, very happy,” he received as an answer. He saw that Kurosaki was grinning.  
  
Ichigo tightened his hold around Ishida’s neck and buried his face in his shoulder. As he felt Ishida fisting his shirt on his back, he turned his head a bit and placed a small kiss on the nearest white piece of skin. The small groan he heard from above encouraged him to continue. He smiled against the sensitive spot and trailed his kisses up until he caught an earlobe between his lips, giving it swift flicks with his tongue.  
  
This caused Ishida to gasp and he tightened his hold on Ichigo’s shirt while the boy slowly kissed his way along the thin jaw line, until finally reaching soft willing lips.  
  
Their tongues danced together, exploring, discovering, and Ishida stopped first to suck at Ichigo’s lower lip.  
  
“Uryuu…” he groaned.  
  
Uryuu drew his head back; blue eyes widened a bit and glared at warm orange ones before narrowing, trying to be threatening.  
  
“No one ever calls me by first name,” the Quincy warned.  
  
“Then, let me be the first one,” Ichigo whispered, pressing their foreheads together and smiling.  
  
Uryuu sighed, but couldn’t help smiling a bit as well. “Fine then, _Ichigo._ ”  
  
Ichigo kissed him soundly. “Good!”  
  
They stayed silently into the tight embrace for a moment before Uryuu remembered something.  
  
“Erm… Ichigo? Can you let me go? I have… things to do today…” he said hesitantly.  
  
Ichigo pulled away a bit. “Homework?”  
  
“No… not really…” He gently pushed Ichigo. “But if you want, we can spar, after that,” he added, putting his glasses back on his nose.  
  
“What?” Ichigo stared at him dubiously. “No way! Don’t you remember–”  
  
“Fine, I was just kidding,” Ishida cut him with a smirk, walking out of the kitchen.  
  
Ichigo followed the Quincy’s movements with his eyes, mouth slightly open. Ishida Uryuu, kidding? That was new to him? And it wasn’t unpleasant at all.  
  
“Where are you going?” Ichigo asked as he went in the sitting-room, looking at Uryuu taking things from a cupboard, going in his bedroom to take a bag, filling it with odd things…  
  
Uryuu stopped what he was doing, considering his answer. Then he straightened up and adjusted his glasses.  
  
“I have…” He cleared his throat. “I have found haute couture lessons.”  
  
Ichigo chuckled softly, but stopped from the glare he received.  
  
“It’s not funny,” Uryuu warned. “Anyway, I’m going to be late if I don't hurry.” He ran from cupboard to cupboard, checking that he hadn’t forgotten anything. “You can stay here, if you wish. If you leave before I come back, just don’t forget to lock the door, I have doubles of the key in my bedside table. Bye.”  
  
With that, he rushed to the door and left. Ichigo went to sit on the sofa, and stared absent-mindedly at the closed door.  
  
He had Uryuu’s authorization to stay here, so he might as well wait for him.  
  
As there was no television, he thought for a moment about doing his homework, but then realised he hadn’t brought his schoolbag. Staying here without anything to do wasn’t really appealing, so he decided he’d better go back to his house to take his bag, or even stay at his house for a few hours. He got up and went into the Quincy’s bedroom to search for the doubles of keys.  
  
_Heh! You’re not doing badly for the moment, partner. I wonder when things will get even more interesting._ The voice in his head echoed, followed by the usual cackle.  
  
“Shut up…” he answered out loud.  
  
Then he opened the drawer of the small wooden piece of furniture and looked into it for the keys. But what he saw in there was infinitely more interesting than going back home and doing homework.  
  
  
\--------------------------  
  
  
Uryuu pushed the door of his home open, wondering if Ichigo had left without locking it as he asked him, but he realised he could sense Ichigo's spirit inside his flat. He frowned while closing the door; he hadn’t thought that the boy would still be here this late. Outside, streetlamps were already on, the clouds in the darkening sky growing from pink to dark orange. He hadn’t thought the lesson would be that long, but the teacher had insisted on taking them all out to a small fashion show.  
  
He was glad he had stopped at the convenience store on his way back to take some food, in case Ichigo would still be at his apartment.  
  
As he walked in, he saw the boy lying on the sofa, reading _the_ book. Uryuu walked closer, carefully putting his bag on his desk, and was about to ask the Shinigami who had allowed him to search his things when the book was snapped shut.  
  
“Hi!” Ichigo exclaimed. “Perfect timing, I’ve just finished it! It was really amazing,” he said, sitting up with a grin.  
  
Uryuu snorted and turned his back to the smiling boy, getting things out of his bag onto the desk. “Are you hungry?” He asked.  
  
Ichigo seemed to hesitate before standing up, answering, “Yeah, I’m quite hungry!”  
  
“Good, I just –” he stopped in mid-sentence, gasping as he felt something tugging at his stomach and was drawn backwards, landing right into the arms of the other boy.  
  
“What are you doing?” he cried out, panting slightly as he was turned around. He could see Ichigo was holding the ocean-blue spirit thread, and he looked up into his eyes, waiting for an answer. What he saw in the chocolate orbs was indeed hunger.  
  
“No,” Ichigo said, his grin widening. “I’m not really hungry for food at the moment.”  
  
He bent down and started ravishing the stunned boy’s mouth. Uryuu was pushed roughly onto sofa, the hungry Shinigami on top, their lips locked together.  
  
Uryuu could sense that Ichigo was pretty aroused, and he knew that all the blame was on that damn book. But he found that he couldn’t quite complain as the treatment he was receiving allowed only moans and groans to come out of his throat.  
  
Ichigo kissed his way down Uryuu’s throat and his hands wandered under his shirt, causing the archer to gasp from the warm touch. If Uryuu had had any reason to push Ichigo away, his brain might have accidentally forgotten it as he fisted his hand into soft orange hair.  
  
“What’s that?” Ichigo wondered aloud as his hands stopped suddenly when they reached Ishida chest. He frowned a bit and tilted his head as he unzipped the white and blue shirt.  
  
Uryuu turned his head towards the back of the couch, slightly embarrassed at the way Ichigo’s eyes widened.  
  
The Shinigami stared at the star-shaped scar and after a moment, ghosted his fingers over it.  
  
“Uryuu, what is it?” he repeated.  
  
Uryuu looked back into warm wondering eyes. “It’s… It’s the mark that proves that I’m the Last Quincy.”  
  
Ichigo stared back at the mark in amazement, running his fingers over it. “Oh, so that’s it… I see…” he whispered, remembering the boy vaguely telling him about some mark his father had given him, making him officially the Last Quincy. He leant down and placed a small kiss in the centre of the star, causing Uryuu to gasp at the odd sensation.  
  
Ichigo snorted softly. “You Quincys really like blue, don’t you?” he added with a grin.

To underline his statement, he conjured up once more the blue reiraku with a flick of his wrist. As Uryuu gasped again, Ichigo smirked and put the thread next to the scar, comparing the shades of blue. They were exactly the same.  
  
“Ichigo, stop that!” Uryuu exclaimed suddenly, leaning his head back, eyes closed.  
  
“Stop what?” Ichigo asked, genuinely surprised for a moment. “Oh! That?” He brought the spirit thread to its owner’s lips, caressing them before tickling his ears with it.  
  
Ichigo’s smirk grew wider as Uryuu was starting to pant heavily, but his eyes quickly widened as he felt as if someone was touching his soul, deep within him.  
  
He looked at Uryuu's hand on his shoulder and realised that it was holding a red thread, his own spirit thread. Indeed, the feeling was really intense. As Uryuu slowly pulled at the reiraku, Ichigo felt as if his inner-world was going to explode from the pleasure. His dropped his head onto the archer’s shoulder and his hips moved on its own, grinding their crotch together and eliciting low growls from both teens.  
  
“You see now how it feels?” Uryuu said, panting.  
  
“Fuck, yeah…” Ichigo stayed silent for a moment. “Shit, Uryuu, I… I need you, now…”  
  
Uryuu’s eyes widened as he stared at the boy above him. There sure was a glint of lust in the brown eyes. He caught Ichigo’s head in his hands and pulled him down for a kiss. When they separated, each of them stayed silent.  
  
“Okay, then,” Uryuu finally answered. “Take me.”  
  
‘For the moment’, he added in his mind. ‘I am yours. For the moment.’  
  
Ichigo smiled and dived again for a rough and demanding kiss. However, he was stopped as his hands started moving again and played with pink nipples.  
  
“Stop… Ichigo!” Uryuu tried to push the boy away a little. “Let’s at least go to my bedroom…” he suggested.  
  
The Shinigami nodded silently, and after one last kiss, he got up and pulled Uryuu up by his wrist.  
  
  
Once in the bedroom, Uryuu was pushed against the closed door. Soft lips were captured demandingly and the white shirt fell to the floor. An orange t-shirt with a usual incoherent slogan on it quickly joined it down. Four hands discovered opposite bodies; long white fingers ran over tanned skin, ghosting over scars and apparent abs, while calloused – but skilled – hands ran over white soft skin. Both, however, had the same effect on the boys, sending shivers down their spine.  
  
Uryuu broke the kiss again, but this time diverted it towards a waiting neck. Ichigo moaned and tilted his head to allow  him more space. He was then forced backwards and the back of his knees eventually touched the bed as Uryuu was playing with his ear. Ichigo fell backwards onto the mattress, bringing the Quincy with him, their groans echoing each other’s.  
  
After one last small bite on the neck below him, Uryuu finally looked up into Ichigo’s half-lidded eyes. Ichigo was rather fast though, and took the opportunity to switch their positions. Uryuu was rolled onto his back and found himself pinned under the hungry boy once more.  
  
Ichigo grinned. “I asked first,” he reminded the other playfully, bending for a short kiss.  
  
He started unbuckling Uryuu’s belt, but then looked as something struck him. “Erm… Do you have… any…?”  
  
Uryuu smiled at the other’s embarrassed face. “Yeah,” he answered, reaching for the bedside table. Ichigo gentlyswatted his arm away and opened the drawer. As he was spread over the Quincy, the latter took advantage of it to take good care of the neck that was offering itself to him.  
  
It was then that Uryuu realised he had still somehow managed to keep the red threat between his fingers. The thing didn’t feel at all like any other material, it felt like powerful particles assembled together to form something resembling thread; particles of energy, particles of Ichigo.  
  
Vaguely hearing the boy whispering a ‘got it’, Uryuu thought of something interesting and brought the reiraku to his lips, slowly sucking onto it.  
  
The tube that Ichigo had managed to find fell heavily back into the drawer.  
  
“OH FUCK!” he half-growled half-gasped, his head dropping on Uryuu’s shoulder, thus missing the boy’s wide smirk. Without looking up, Ichigo knew what the Quincy had done; he had felt as if someone was sucking on his own heart, his own soul.  
  
Ichigo was now achingly hard, and from Uryuu’s answers to his moans, he knew that he was in the same state. He snatched the lube again and quickly went to unbuckle his own trousers.  
  
They both got rid of the remaining clothes and glasses in the blink of an eye and held onto each other tightly, kissing wildly. Ichigo broke the kiss, breathing fast, and licked his way down Uryuu’s throat. He followed the path down and stopped midway to play with nipples. One hand was swiftly toying with one, his mouth was sucking and licking alternatively at the other, and he used his other hand to caress Uryuu’s thigh. The hand wandered up teasingly and finally stopped as Uryuu arched his back, gasping as his length was touched. Ichigo kissed his way further down and eventually reached the hand that was lightly stroking the hard member, eliciting encouraging groans from above. He looked up to see that Uryuu was looking at him through his half-opened beautiful blue eyes, lips slightly parted. Ichigo smiled at him and took the tip of the waiting member between his lips. His smile grew broader as Uryuu’s head dropped heavily back onto the pillow, groaning loudly something that resembled Ichigo’s name.  
  
The redhead pulled away, ignoring the frustrated protest, and opened the tube lying beside him, spreading some of its content over his hands before bending down again. As his mouth continued its ministrations, one hand went down to help and the other went further down, leaving feathery touches over the boy’s entrance.  
  
Uryuu couldn’t help his hips to buck into the hot mouth. Fortunately, one of Ichigo’s hands prevented them from choking him. Uryuu fisted his hands in the orange hair and moaned. This caused the Shinigami to groan as well, and Uryuu could feel the vibrations of his throat. However, the pleasure was short as he felt a finger pushing inside him. He gasped and his muscled automatically tightened at the intrusion.  
  
Ichigo looked up to study his face and crawled back up to kiss his neck, attempting to make him feel better and relax. He kissed his way up and Uryuu finally relaxed as he was kissed passionately.  
  
As Ichigo started moving his finger back and forth, he brushed against something that caused Uryuu to suddenly tense under him, shouting his name and tightening his hold on his muscular shoulders.  
  
After some careful time preparing Uryuu, Ichigo asked if he was okay. Receiving an affirmative nod, he positioned himself, waiting for Uryuu to give his approval once more before carefully pushing his way in. The face below him surely showed some pain, tears forming between closed lids, but not once he heard words like ‘stop’ crossing the thin lips – which somewhat relieved him a bit. He stopped nonetheless half-way and captured Uryuu’s lips once again, whispering him softly to relax as he slowly pushed in fully to the hilt. He waited a moment, fighting his instincts, and concentrated on the demanding kisses until the muscles surrounding him finally relaxed.  
  
He put his arms under the younger boy’s knees, pulling them up, and started moving out.  
  
They groaned in unison each other’s name as they moved together, picking up their pace. Uryuu was still holding onto Ichigo’s shoulders, moaning and gripping him each time the Shinigami touched the right spot. Ichigo had buried his head into Ishida’s neck, biting and licking to try to stifle his own sounds.  
  
Too soon, he felt he was reaching his limits, so he grasped between their bodies to stroke the neglected member. They reached climax, Uryuu in the Shinigami’s hand, Ichigo in the Quincy’s body, their names echoing in their ears.  
  
Getting out, Ichigo collapsed onto Uryuu, both boys trying to regain their breathing.  
  
Eventually, they both shifted to their side, still holding onto each other in an agreeable meaningful silence.  
  
_I admit, partner. You deserve congratulations, there. I’ll leave you in peace for now, but keep in mind that it still won’t be that easy to win over me for battles. Don’t get weak!_  
  
For the moment, as he lay entangled with Uryuu, breathing his scent and listening to his soothing breath, Ichigo realised that he didn’t care as much as before; as long as he had the Quincy with him, whatever that thing was between them, he was sure he would be able to take over anything easily.


End file.
